Publishers are targeting Google

The World Association of Newspapers, a Paris-based organisation whose members include the NPA, is leading a taskforce of newspaper, magazine and book publishers against search engines and online news aggregators.

Search engines automatically pull content such as headlines, photos and the first few lines of an article from newspapers' websites to display on their own. Most carry advertisements, though Google's news aggregation site, Google News, doesn't.

The taskforce will examine whether the search engines are infringing copyright or trademarks and will assert its members rights to "recognition and recompense" online.

It will also lobby senior European Union officials and will consider collective action at a national and international level.

NPA chief executive Lincoln Gould says APN in Sydney, publisher of the New Zealand Herald, has approached the association with concerns about the use of its material.

He says while it's too early to say whether the NPA will take any action independently in New Zealand, it is keeping tabs on the international campaign.

At issue is the unauthorised use of material by search engines which is then used to the search engines' advantage, he says.

In March last year Agence France Presse (AFP) sued Google in the US, alleging the search giant took its content without permission. The case is pending. AFP is a member of the World Association of Newspapers.

Google is facing similar pressure from book publishers because of its plan to scan copyrighted works.

From Stuff